Morrell Ready to Lead Young Warriors

By MIKE COBBLEDGER CORRESPONDENT

Monday

Oct 31, 2011 at 1:59 AM

In his first year as the Webber International women's basketball coach Grady Morrell has borrowed a word from Buccaneer head coach Raheem Morris to describe his Warriors team.The word is "Yungry," a word Morris coined to describe his team as "young and hungry."Morrell is applying it his Webber team that has just four seniors among the 15 players on the roster and is looking to replace three of its top four scorers including Nikki King, who was named an NAIA honorable mention All-American.It's been a hectic two months for Morrell, who accepted the job on Aug. 12, completing an unusual rotation of coaches. Morrell, the former girls basketball coach at Victory Christian, left that position in June after the school told him to end the affiliation with his AAU program to avoid potential eligibility issues with players.He replaces former Warriors head coach Ben Braaten, who left Webber to become the girls' soccer coach at Lakeland High School. Braaten's assistant coach, Rick Brewer, also left Webber to replace Morrell as the girls basketball coach at Victory Christian, opening the position for Morrell.It's been an adjustment. Still living in Lakeland, Morrell makes the commute daily to Babson Park. His day starts at 4 a.m., when he leaves, arriving at the school around 4:45 a.m., for practice, which runs from 5-7 a.m.He then spends the rest of the day and sometimes the evening at the school. Some nights, he said, he stays in his office where he has a bed and a couch.He takes over a Webber team that was 5-19 last year. So what does he see for this year's team?"What I see right now, and the film I've watched of other teams, we could surprise some people if they do what I think they can do," Morrell said. "They have to learn my style and adapt to it, the fast-paced, pressing style that I run."In the six weeks his team has been practicing, Morrell said, "I'm more encouraged than discouraged. They are very, very good."In addition to learning his new team, Morrell is also adjusting to coaching at the college level."The biggest difference (to coaching in high school) is the commitment level you're allowed to push on them," he said. "That, plus the speed of the girls."I really haven't adjusted a lot," he said. "All I've done is study more and made my offense a little more complex, so it's not as mundane. In high school, you win on who has the most talent. In college everyone has talent."Morrell's returning players include Shambrika Tomlin (6.1 ppg), Angelica Pennington (2.5 ppg) and Kala Alicea (7.0 ppg). Tomlin and Alicea are guards. Pennington is a guard/forward. Also returning is 6-foot-3 Kristin Throckmorton (1.9 ppg, 3.1 rpg).Morrell will add nine newcomers to the mix, most of them recruited by Braaten and Brewer. "They did a good job of recruiting."Leading the newcomers is Samantha Harvey, a 5-foot-5 transfer from Palm Beach Atlantic."Samantha Harvey is probably my top player, skill-wise," Morrell said.Other newcomers include sophomore forward Sarah Dileonardo (Brevard College), 6-foot freshman forward Kadejah Maple (Miami Westminster), junior forward Japhnor Luzincourt (Broward College), and freshman guard Jakira Robinson (Tenoroc).With a guard-heavy team, Morrell said he wants to play a full-court, fast-tempo game. Of the 15 players on his roster, nine are guards. That will be different from last year when King, a 6-1 post player, averaged 20 points and 15 rebounds."They put everything on Nikki King's back (last year)," Morrell said. "We don't have that one-man show anymore. We have to do it as a team."Morrell also faces the challenge of a schedule that sees his team play six of its first seven games on the road, and includes games against NCAA Division 1 schools Florida Atlantic and Robert Morris, and NCAA Division II opponents Florida Tech and Rollins.Morrell, however, has his sights set on the Sun Conference season."Our biggest games will be Ave Maria, Florida Memorial, who won it last year, and St. Thomas who was second. They're the class of the Sun Conference right there."We've also got those rivalries with Warner and Southeastern," he said. "I've got a lot of work to do. Everybody's going to be a challenge."I've just got to make sure I can keep up."

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